1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to relational databases and, in particular, to a mechanism for supporting the generation by a server relational database, and the sending from that server relational database to a client, of a notification regarding accesses to the database indicative of the occurrence of certain events of interest.
2. Description of Related Art
A database is a collection of data structured and organized in a disciplined fashion that makes stored information of interest quickly accessible. When a database is organized and accessed according to relationships between stored data items, it is referred to as a relational database. In a simple implementation, a relational database comprises a collection of data files that relate to each other through at least one common field. It is possible, however, that the relational database supports many common field relationships between the stored data files.
An example of a complex relational database is a home location register (HLR) implemented within a wireless telecommunications network (such as a cellular telephone network). The home location register stores permanent and temporary data concerning subscribers to the wireless telecommunications network. The permanent data stored in the home location register comprises fixed information such as subscriber data (relating to subscriptions, services, pass codes, serial numbers, and the like), authentication data, and numbering plan data. The temporary data stored in the home location register comprises variable information such as an identification of the current location of each subscriber.
A customer administrative system (CAS) is utilized to engage in transactions relating to the administration of the permanent data stored in the home location register. These administration activities, in general, relate to transactions performed for the purposes of customer (i.e., subscriber) creation or definition, service activation, and the like, relating to a given customer. More particularly, the transactions relate to subscriber data administration tasks such as:
subscription initiation/removal/status, PA1 subscriber activation/cancellation, PA1 service provision/withdrawal/activation/passivation, PA1 C-number (transfer) definition, PA1 pass code changes, and PA1 serial number changes.
The transactions may further relate to authentication administration tasks such as authentication activation/change/deactivation/status. Additionally, the transactions relate to numbering plan configuration including number range assignment, numbering plan deletion and numbering plan viewing.
In order to support certain service management applications executed in the customer administrative system, it is important that telecommunications network activity related event notifications be generated for delivery to and processing by the customer administrative system. For example, a fraud detection application may be executed in the customer administrative system for the purpose of detecting fraudulent subscription use. In such a case, a notification must be provided to the customer administrative system at each instance where a call is made from a certain subscriber mobile station or billed to a certain subscription. Responsive to this notification, processing and handling of the call could be closely monitored to catch instances of fraudulent use and perhaps prevent such unauthorized calls from being completed.
It is recognized that in many instances the telecommunications network activity related events involve instances where the network nodes access the home location register database. Accordingly, the associated notifications for those telecommunications network activity related events could conveniently be generated by the home location register and sent to the customer administrative system. Unfortunately, current relational database capabilities do not support the generation of notifications based on the occurrence of external events indicated by accesses to the home location register database. It would be advantageous if a mechanism were provided to support the generation by a server relational database (such as a home location register), and the sending from that server relational database to a client (such as a customer administrative system), of a notification regarding accesses to the server relational database indicative of the occurrence of certain external events of interest.